Letter From the Editor: It's a war of the worlds in the news business

Inevitably, their heads are bowed, although not in prayer. Instead, they pay homage to the ubiquitous device that now rules are lives.

There was a time when people used to look at each other, sometimes offer a cheery hello, engage their neighbors, and take part in the community.

Today, we stare at our phones.

We crave privacy, or at least we say we do, then we share our most intimate details while standing in the checkout line.

Advertisement

We wonder about security, in the wake of the Target debacle over the holiday shopping season. Yet, we concede we are slaves to the technology that allows hackers to go about their illicit ways.

We have become a mobile society, not so much in the way we move around the country, but rather how we get and share information.

We tweet, we post on Facebook. We expect the world to be available in the palm of our hands.

We are no longer content to wait until the daily newspaper is delivered to our doorstep each morning. Instead, readers have told us they want information delivered when they want it ó and on the platform they prefer.

All that is part of the revolution that has shaken the news-gathering business to its core. In short, the model the business was built on ó printing ink on paper ó is broken.

Sure, we still print the newspaper every day. But weíre also reacting in ways unheard of to meet the demands of this new, mobile, voracious audience.

We now have the ability to deliver news and information to readers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. When news breaks, we no longer wonder how we are going to display that in print, at least not right away.

Instead, we move quickly to get that information to our readers. We deliver a text alert, in which we convey breaking news headlines to our readersí phones.

We tweet updates. We are all over Facebook.

In short, we are going where are readers are. Weíre going to their phones and tablet devices.

Every time I address a community group, I explain my current dilemma the same way. I assure them I have not stopped at the watering hole on my way to their meeting, but they are not totally off base if it appears to them Iím a little off balance.

That is because, I say as I slap my knee, I have one leg firmly rooted in the old, comfortable world we have always inhabited. That would be the print edition our longtime, loyal readers have come to depend on every day for news of their communities. But I have the other leg planted in this new, mobile, online world, one in which we deliver information to our readers in a heartbeat, update it constantly, and are not limited by the confines of print.

It is a delicate balance, one that is quickly tilting toward the online delivery of news. That is not to say we have any plans to abandon our print audience. But the numbers donít lie. Newspaper readership is declining, while our online audience is exploding.

Not only that, but within that online world, those who access DelcoTimes.com via a cellphone or tablet are on the rise.

These days, after spending the day at work, readers are just as likely to sit down with their iPad or cellphone to check out what is going on.

How many of you keep your cellphone on the nightstand next to your bed? Thought so. How many of you glance at emails, Twitter and Facebook pages before dozing off for the night.

The mobile audience is becoming critical not only for how they access their news and information, but also when. These readers are much more likely to access that information during the evening and late-night hours, and in particular on the weekends.

In other words, increasingly, our readers are on their mobile devices. So are we.

That is why we have developed apps that readers can download on their phones to streamline the delivery of news, pictures and video from the Daily Times and DelcoTimes.com on their phones.

Our role remains the same. Our goal is as it always has been, our mission to be the primary source of information in Delaware County.

Thatís where our readers will find the listings of community events, local high school sports scores, and of course, the obituaries.

It is what we have always done, itís just performed in a different world, one in which everyone with a Twitter account is now a publisher, everyone with a Facebook page can post a photo from a local news event.

Instead of merely delivering news to these people, today we often engage with them, asking them for information, picking up their photos and videos.

The next time you see a guy furiously texting in the supermarket, please say hello. It might be me.

I do things today I would not have considered just a few years ago. So are our readers.

Thatís why weíre changing to serve their needs.

See you on the Internet.

Philip E. Heron is editor of the Daily Times. Call him at (610) 622-8818. E-mail him at editor@delcotimes.com. Make sure you check out his blog, The Heronís Nest, every day at or http://delcoheronsnest.blogspot.com. Follow him on Twitter, @philheron.